Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 08/13/2008 - 22:12
Forums
Ocean Dynamics Beaufort Sea

Hi Ms. Ward

My name is Johanna Ochoa from Los angeles valley college and i read your expedition and i just had a question regarding the zooplankton. Having found zooplankton under cold water conditions what kind of animals can be found in these areas and does it have any effect on temperature or salinity of the water.

Thank You

Johanna Ochoa

Fri, 08/15/2008 - 09:11

Gerty Ward

Johanna,
Thank you for following along. Yours is a good question and I posed it to Brian Hunt of UBC, a scientist on board who is studying the plankton up here. He says that zooplankton populations do not have an effect on the temperature and salinity of Arctic waters. Regarding the types of animals found here, he points out that the Arctic food chain is short-- whales and birds feed on plankton. By contrast, in more temperate oceans, the food chain is lengthy, containing intermediate consumers such as fish and marine mammals.
Mrs. W